31 Days of Halloween - Happy Halloween! Dia de los Muertos Shrine for Conan

Oh my heck!  It's Halloween on the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea! What a fabulous month!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a wonderful holiday that celebrates the lives of loved ones who have passed. One of the symbols of the holiday is the sugar skull, usually decorated in bright colors. I wanted to use the sugar skull icon in a shrine for our dog that we lost early in the year, but I did not want them to be the focus.
I punched out skulls from colorful card stock and glittered them in monotones. I started the shrine by covering Conan's bowls with handmade tiles, beads, baubles and all kinds of things that have meaning for our family.
It's not a traditional mosaic process. I glued everything on with hot glue and did not grout. I made a polymer clay sugar skull to add as a finishing touch.
Let's start with that tutorial and go from there.

Materials:
Polymer clay
Mark making tools - needle tool, pencil, craft knife
Glitter in several colors
Glue Black felt pen
Card stick in several bright colors
Skull shaped punch - I used Martha Stewart's Glitter glue in the colors of your card stock Silk flowers in bright colors
Hot glue

	I was so happy to find Martha Stewart's Halloween glitter kit!  The little glue bottle has a tiny nozzle - perfect for delicate work. To make the polymer clay skull - use my shape as a guide. Shape it on your work surface to keep the back flat. Bake as directed. Color in the eyes, nose and teeth with the felt pen.
	Add tiny dots of glue where you want one color of glitter.
	Sprinkle glitter. Tap off excess glitter. Repeat for each color.Allow to dry.
	Now for the Dia de los Muertos border:Punch out the skulls. Outline and make designs with glitter glue the same color as the paper. Allow to dry.
	Here are the mosaiced bowls in a dimensional frame. Due to the heaviness of the bowls, I glued and screwed them on the backing.
	Alternate silk flowers and skulls all the way around the inside edge. And there's a rat!

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 30 - Make your own glittery pumpkin Buttons

 

Day 30 and once again you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Making your own buttons is a hoot!  These simple pumpkin buttons began as a piece of polymer clay that I shaped, baked and made a mold of. But, you don't even have to make an original piece to begin with, you can make a mold of ANYTHING!  Just think of the possibilities!

Materials: Polymer clay - Orange and scrap clay Mold making medium Crochet needle Wire Round nose pliers Chan nose pliers Wire Cutters Needle tool or toothpick Glue Glitter

	Make a small, flat backed pumpkin shape.Use a crochet needle to mark the sections of the pumpkin. You can use scrap clay for this, because this will be the piece you make a mold of. Bake according to directions. Allow to cool.
	You will need a mold making medium. THis is a Sculpey product that I like.You'll also need powder and a brush to spread it.
	Brush and dab the powder on the original piece.
	Push the powdered piece into a ball of mold medium.Turn it over and push a little bit to even the surface.
	Very gently pull the mold medium away from the baked piece ever so slightly and push a tiny bit on the back side of the mold medium to release the piece.Bake the mold as directed and allow to cool.
	To make the button and shank you'll need orange clay, the baked mold, a water spritzer, 20 gauge wire, round nose pliers and chain nose pliers.
	Cut a 1" piece of wire and bend it around the round nose pliers.
	Bend both ends out to the side with the chain nose pliers.
	Put a bend in both ends keeping the ends level.
	Push a small amount of clay into the mold. You may need to adjust the amount of clay. You don't want it to extend beyond the edge and have it be sloppy.
	Place the wire on the clay.Press down slightly.
	Put a dot of clay over the wire ends.
	Smooth the dots the best you can.Turn the mold over and gently push the back to release the clay.
	Bake as directed and allow to cool.
	Paint the pumpkins with glue and pour glitter on. I held the button with pliers while I glittered. It worked well.Pull through the wet glue in the creases for more depth. Allow to dry.

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Crispy Rice Cereal and Marshmallow Poop - Eeee!

So, my daughter's shift at the hospital is having a gross food potluck today.  Janice came up yesterday to confer with me and we batted around a few ideas.  The one she settled on was crispy rice and marshmallow poop treats.  She saw the idea on Pinterest and here is her version, which, I have to say, is delicious mischief that I willingly participated in!  Here is the original post of the idea

It's the basic Rice Krispies Treat recipe, BUT Janice used a chocolate crisp rice cereal and peanuts.  You will not believe how delicious that is! 

You can see above that we rolled the treats while they were still hot.  And, as if they were not gross looking enough, we covered them in chocolate

See the bowl in the top left of the photo above?  Yes, we cut the yellow tips off candy corn to adorn the chocolate with undigested corn!

I know, right?!  I giggled like a 12 year old the whole time!  Oh my heck, she is her parents' child!

I hope she's having a ball today with her shift!  I'm glad we made enough for Hubby and I to keep some!  In fact, I'm eating one right now!  Oh, you have GOT to try this!

Oh...no.  That's... not... right.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 28 - Blinged Out Witch's Hat

 

And here we are on day 28! Yea!  And you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

What does every witch need to shine at a Witch's Tea? A fabulous hat! I started with a cool hat I found on line after last year's Witch's Tea, for a huge discount! That was my very first Witches tea and I wore a hooded cloak, which I love, but...there was a best hat contest! Who knew! So, as I said, I started with one that was already cool and had a ball blinging it up!
Materials:
A pointed hat
Hot glue
Feathers
Wire
Beads
Bangles
Knick knacks, doo dads and glitter glue

	Here's my cool hat.I love all the black gauze and and bent over point!
	You may recognize many of the bling I'm adding as Halloween projects from earlier in the October.This is the first bling - a small bat pendant with a skull bead dangle. I sewed it on to make it easy to switch out for next year's tea.
	I cut 6 3" to 4" strips of tulle 36" wide and tied them in a bow.
	I hot glued the bow on the back and added this bauble.It's Smeared Ink's It's About Time Pocket Watch stamp glued on the back of a glass blob. I added glitter glue to the tulle.
	I glued feathers all the way around and sewed on a pendant piece and added wires that I curled up and attached dangles to.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 27 - Edible Zombie Morsels

Ahh!  It's day 27! That's right, and you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Now will come the making of the zombie candy! Muhuhuahahahhhh! No baking required, but you do need clean hands, warm pockets and fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls!
Materials:
Tootsie Roll Fruit Flavors - make sure the mix includes vanilla

	Tootsie Rolls take a little time and moderate strength to condition, so the first rule of Tootsie Roll Sculpting is:  Put the wrapped candies in your pockets for at least half and hour before conditioning it.  Rule 2: The Tootsie Roll will pretend it doesn't want to stick to itself at first. After a moment, you won't be able to separate it! Condition them as you would polymer clay - smooshing and rolling them in your hands until they are soft enough to shape.
	For a toe, you will need 2 green, a tiny piece of white, purple and pink.
	Combine the 2 green and shape into a cylinder. Flatten and widen one end. Roll the purple and fatten it into a circle, place it on the toe and tear the end away to make a gross toenail.
	Make a button shape with the white and push it in the back of the toe. Roll a tiny piece of the pink and lay it around the white. You can put some pink under the toenail if you like.
	For an eyeball, you will need 2 white, 1 pink and a tiny bit of blue. Combine the 2 white pieces and roll into a ball.
	Twist all but a little of the pink to make the root and then roll small strings to to make veins. Mix a tiny bit of white and blue together to make a hazy looking iris.
	For the teeth I used 1 white mixed with 1/2 a yellow for the piece of bone, yellow for the teeth and a bit of pink for the little bit of gums. The brain bit is a blue and white combined. Make a random lump and roll the rest into a long string to wind back and forth all over the lump.
	And there you have it! Zombie Morsels! Oh, and the slogan is: Zombie Morsels When you care enough to send the very beast

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 26 - Zombie Candy Box

Well, here we are on day 26! That's right, and you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Don't tell me you've never wondered what zombies taste like! Okay, they're gross, but what if they weren't? What if they tasted fruity? Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Today's project is a zombie candy box that makes a pristine space for the universe to fill with tasty...dead things. Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't run away! It will be fun! I promise!
 Materials:
 A small box - I used a 4 piece candy box
An image for the box top - I made a digital piece with a hand drawn cemetery background, a photo of my Gravestone ATC border from
Altered Art Supplies and die cut text frame
White card stock - to print your image on
Decorative Paper
Aleene's Tacky Glue Pen Border - I used some gold German borders Black Glitter

	For the top of the box, I created an image in Photoshop with the elements you see here. So here's where you begin - size the image to match the box size including a 2" border to fold to the inside of the box. After gluing the image to the box, fill in the tombstones with the glue pen and sprinkle with glitter. Allow to dry.
	If you will be using the box for display only, you can add any embellishments at all, but if you want to use it for an actual box, put as little paper as you can on the inside sides of the top or the outside side of the bottom so the box will open and close easily. Measure the paper for the bottom the same as the top.
	Glue the bottom to the back side of the decorative paper. Make cuts in the paper to miter the corners.
	Add glue to the flaps and fold them to the inside of the box.
	Add gold trim to fancy it up a bit. Allow the glue to dry
	You'll want to have chocolate cups for the inside, so go get some chocolates and eat them!

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